Visual mapping and recession-proofing your job

Surviving in a shrinking economy and nervous times is most often about being better than the next guy or gal. But it’s not enough just to be better, if you are a cog in the machine, or even a bigger wheel, you need the higher levels to know that you’re better. The fastest and most memorable way to get that message across is visually.

My advice to the real survivors is:

Don’t just know what you know, show what you know.

Don’t just know what you’re planning, show what you’re planning.

Don’t just know what you’re doing, show what you’re doing.

A well-organized mind map or series of maps can show all that quickly, and doesn’t depend on the boss sitting down to read a report. As a consultant I’ve consistently found that the higher the level of a decision-maker is, the more often they want a diagram or some other visual encapsulation of a complex problem. They rarely want detail. Unless you are talking dollars and cents, of course. Even the micro-manager who wants to know everything will appreciate starting with a helicopter view.

Once you have hooked senior management’s interest visually, using mind mapping software to go to the next stage shows that it’s not just a party trick. Showing that a mind map that kicked off a presentation is linked directly to data that tracks, for example, progress or costs can be truly impressive. One of the “dashboard” add-ins for popular mind mapping software can help you pull that one off and keep it up to date automatically.

Or a project’s main mind map, or series of maps, can be linked directly to files of information. Direct, clickable links on the maps allow project team members to find information they need quickly, just where they’d expect it to be, because they’ve worked with the same mind maps as they were developed.

Finally, out of the many possibilities, here’s another chance for you to shine. If you work in an environment where there are too many meetings, mind maps can keep a meeting focused, record next actions and decisions made as you go alone, as well as making the meetings more effective, and shorter, as a result.